Dishonored Review (PC, Xbox 360)

Fantasy Steampunk, Ahoy!

I have always loved the steampunk world. A fantasy world that with very little effort on our part could actually exist. With the exception of some of the fantastical creatures, of course. I think most of us gamers would agree that all that brass and copper, those goggles, and all those cool guns and knives are just the world we would want to live in given the chance. I would love to be some sort of sky pirate in a zeppelin that looks like a schooner.

Alas, that world doesn’t actually exist. That doesn’t stop us from playing the fantasy though, does it? Bethesda, the makers of pretty much every freaking game that is coming out here lately, has given us Dishonored. Okay, that’s not entirely true. It’s actually a game from Arkane Studios, but it has Bethesda written all over it in every detail of Dunwall. A world of steampunk, assassins, corrupt politicians, and supernatural power.

You are Corvo Attano, the official bodyguard of the Empress of Dunwall, an industrial whaling city modeled after Victorian London. You are framed for her murder and the kidnapping of her daughter, Emily. So, pissed off, you escape from prison six months later with the help of the Outsider and his followers. The Outsider also gives you several supernatural gifts later on in the game, which make your assassination missions that much more flavorful when the time comes to exact some revenge.